What the world needs now: a picturebook primer for kittens entitled CAT101: A Beginner’s Guide to Being an Awesome Kitty. Great cats do not just happen naturally, as anyone who has ever lived with a kitten will attest. With CAT101, your kitten will be on the fast track to success, learning such essential lessons as appropriate locations for tail chasing, and the main difference between people and trees. (Hint: one does not drop the f-bomb when climbed.)

I will get this book published one day. If you’re only planning on having one kitten in the future, you should probably just wait until this book is available. Just sayin’.

I’ve fallen behind on my bloggings. I would be ashamed, but I have three very good reasons for this.

1. I was working on stuff. A.) I finished putting together a portfolio and submitted it to the Academy of Art in San Francisco in order to waive out of taking all the prerequisites for an upper-level class called Eccentric Illustration. I’m not pursuing a degree there, so they call it the “Personal Enrichment” path. I can dig it. I got in, by the way, and I’m really excited about it. Starts in September. B.) I’ve also put together a submission for a large fine art show in le capitol city. I’ll hear back if I got in June 17th. Pins and needles, y’all. C.) I’m also currently taking a class through Skillshare.com called Constructing a Story: Advanced Visual Storytelling. It’s just begun, and I haven’t had any feedback from the instructor yet. I’m about halfway through thumbnailing my book Annabelle & the Bear.

2. I went to Philadelphia. Melissa, the author of the other book I’m working on, Square Dog in a Round World, lives there, so we hung out and talked about books and stuff. Melissa showed me ’round the city and I took some amazing pictures. We went to the zoo, the Philadelphia Art Museum, 3 life-changing restaurants, met an incredible cheese called Humboldt Fog, drank a good bit of Spanish wine, and strolled about the city and the UPenn campus, which is inhabited by an army of creepy gargoyles. She also took me to a truly awesome comic book shop, Locust Moon. You must go there and buy stuff next time you’re in Pennsylvania.

3. I got kittens. I wanted to get a little friend for my 3-year-old cat Vivi, but I knew it’d take some time to convince her that’s what she wanted too. So to keep Jenkins company during the transition phase, I also took in her sister, Zoe, on a temporary foster basis. And while we will all miss her dearly, I’m thinking my household will be slightly more peaceful, as Zoe Does Not Sleep. Ever. Unless it’s on my laptop keyboard. Then, apparently, it’s super warm and fuzzy snooze time.

So, with most of that in the bag for now, I hope to get back to my regular bloggings. Did you miss me?

Goodbye, Penelope. Welcome, Thomas! Illustration Friday has had a change in management, but will continue on. This week’s topic is farewell. I did this little drawing last week as a mother’s day gift for my stepmom. It’s a bit of a family portrait really– the bear, of course, is my dad– note the blue slippers. Over on my other blog (a blog about a book about a dog), I’ve posted it as a coloring page, in case any little kiddos out there want to make something nice for mom this year.

The Illustration Friday topic this week is eye glasses. This is Annabelle’s dad, for my children’s book in progress, Annabelle & the Bear. Obviously I need to go back and sort out his left hand (top). I liked it fine until I got his right hand drawn and it was so much better…

I’ll be posting more from this story and hopefully an update on the other book Loupotamus on Square Dog, Round World sometime this week. Melissa (the writer) was in town last week and we made much progress on the story line. I’ve been developing the storyboard while watching Dr.Who on my laptop every night. It’s going well so far, but I still have a long way to go– Allons-y!

This week on Illustration Friday, the topic is talent. I figured I’d draw some musical penguins. The little tuba player was running late, and didn’t make the group shot. But he was adorable, even though I apparently have no idea what a tuba looks like. I need to revisit my source imagery and try again before he joins the rest of the orchestra, which is led by a very talented conductor.

In related news, ta-da! I am a brand-spankin-new Content Creator on the Illustration Friday blog. (If you draw pictures, but aren’t familiar with Illustration Friday, click thee the link, and post-haste! It’s a great site that suggests a new topic every week and everyone submits their own interpretation. But you may have figured that out already from the context clues– you’re pretty smart. You’re also a snappy dresser. And I like what’s happening with your hair right now.) But I digress…

My first post goes live on Thursday, and I’ll be selecting a new artist each week to showcase. It’ll be awesome. You should check it out. By the way, have you been working out? I thought so.

And hey, thanks for stopping by. It was really good to see you–
and really, I mean it, you look great.

This week’s Illustration Friday topic is whisper. I didn’t want to be too literal, so I sketched up a moment where one might be inclined to whisper instead of depicting the action outright. This is a scene from one of the children’s books I’m working on called Annabelle and the Bear.

One day I’m going to get to the part where I do something that actually looks finished. And when I do, I promise I’ll scan it in properly instead of photographing it with my iphone.

But right now, I’m still roughing out the general look, technique and process. I’m rather fond of the tree on the left, and the albino squirrel that lives in it.

I’m also rather fond of the bear, who reminds me of my dad. Generally, all bears do.

This week for Illustration Friday, the topic is “wool.” I’m pretty sure everybody’s going to draw sheep, and there will no doubt be several wolves in sheep’s clothing, so I thought I’d throw in a third cliche/meme and do something really (un)expected: the Harlem Shake. Wheeeee!

Thanks for stopping by, everybody. I really appreciate all the likes and comments and follows. You guys rock!

Two birds, one stone, for this week’s Illustration Friday topic: wheels. I’m way overdue on a progress report for the children’s book I’m working on, so here’s our protagonist, Lou, puttin’ the wheee! in “wheels.”

This is loosely based on a true story. Lou attempted to skateboard at least once that I know of, but it did not go so well. That dog on the internet makes it look easy. But it’s hard.

Like, really hard n’ stuff.

Thanks for stopping by!

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